Light and Dark
by IamAngel624
Summary: [Brave Little Toaster]  A lamp is shines light in the darkness, but what if there's darkness inside of him?  Lampy's POV of his sacrifice, oneshot.


_So, yeah, I love __**The Brave Little Toaster.**__ I've watched that movie since I was a little kid, and I've always loved it! Each of the five main appliance character have been my favorite at one point in time or another, and at the moment it's Lampy. He's just so dull in his brightness, it's cute! And when he sacrifices himself…(sniffle)…it still brings a tear to my eye._

_Speaking of the sacrifice, I know it symbolizes something. There are so many things in TBLT that I just know symbolize something. So I decided that Lampy's sacrifice had to be connected to the conversation he had with Toaster somehow…and it kinda turned into this._

_They all belong to Disney, although I do have a lamp that looks almost exactly like Lampy…_

* * *

It was a dark and stormy night! No, wait, it wasn't stormy yet. That happened later. Well, let's just say it was a dark night and leave it there.

Two whole days had passed since we had left the Cottage. We'd seen some interesting things already, like a forest of sticks and a peaceful meadow filled with animals. We'd followed the light of the Really Big Lamp and Radio's navigation skills (if they really were real) to this place; a creepy forest of darkness.

Being a lamp, I hate the dark. That's why I was so glad my light was there to shine in the forest, showing everyone where to go. Of course, I was a little bit angry when Kirby told me to turn it off, but he had a good reason. The battery was dying, and without it there would be no way we could keep going. Sure, we can move on our own power for a little while, but we need some power source to keep us going forever.

So, there we were, in the dark and spooky forest, no light, running low on power, no light, in need of shelter, and no light. Did I mention there was _no light?_ But Blanky set up a tent for us to sleep in for the night...no, wait, actually Blanky _was_ the tent.

Kirby was the first one of us to fall asleep. The poor guy had been pulling the rest of us through thick and thin, so it was no surprise to see how tired he was. Radio played some of the news stations for me, Toaster, and Blanky as we got ready to go to sleep. Some of those news stories were pretty depressing; it's amazing how much dark is in the world, and I'm not talking about actual darkness. I'm talking about darkness on the inside. A lot of humans are full of it; a lot of them came to the Cottage in times past to visit with the Master's parents. Every time I saw them, I wanted to shine a light on them and scream, "KNOCK IT OFF!!! GET SOME LIGHT IN YA!!!" But that would be breaking the First Unspoken Rule: _Never ever EVER talk to a human._

Finally, Radio began to shut up. "That concludes our broadcast for today," he sighed, "Good night, America...and all the ships at sea..." His voice faded to static as he fell asleep. Now I could finally get some shut-eye.

But then Toaster started yakking. "Thanks," he whispered, patting Blanky's head.

Blanky replied, "Oh, dat's awright." Then, like the baby blanket he was, he let out a huge yawn, started sucking on one of his corners (for him, that was like a human sucking on his thumb), and drifted off to sleep.

Finally! Peace and quiet! I tapped a rock with my plug to make sure it was the perfect softness, which it wasn't. But I didn't really care; I flopped down on that thing like it was the Master's softest pillow. For some reason, though, I took a peek at toaster to see what he was doing.

As soon as I realized he was actually being _nice_ to Blanky, that annoying little baby, I just had to sit up. What the heck was he doing? Back then, I thought Blanky was an annoying wuss. In fact, that's what we all thought of him, and we weren't shy to show it. But we rarely, almost _never_, treated him nicely!

I just had to know what Toaster was think. "So, uh..." I asked, not sure how to put it without making it sound too bad, "...what's this thing between you and the blanket?"

Toaster blinked at me; he looked pretty tired. "What thing?"

"You know!" I said, "All of the sudden, you're being so darned _nice_ to him all of the sudden!"

"Oh, that." Toaster said, "Well, I just got to thinking, and...I got to feeling that I should be nice to him for a change, ya know? Now I feel better!" He smiled; it wasn't a forced smile, but it wasn't completely true, either.

"Wow," I sighed, "That's weird."

Toaster's smile turned into a frown. "What'd weird about it?"

I shrugged, leaning casually against my cord. "I dunno," I muttered, "I mean, you were never this nice to him before, and all of a sudden now you're nice to him all the time, and I don't know." Trying not to make myself look too ignorant, I subtly tried get him to tell me. "I'm, uh, I'm just trying to understand, trying to figure out, you know, exactly what it all means."

"Well, uh..." Toaster's brown eyes darted about; I'd known him long enough to know that this meant he was doing some hard thinking. "It's kinda hard to describe..." But he gave it a shot. "...it's like being next to a new loaf of bread."

Now, I'm a lamp, and us lamps have absolutely _nothing_ to do with loaves of bread, so I did not understand Toaster at all. So he tried again.

"It's like..." He patted his enamel. "...a warm, toasty feeling inside."

Well, he was getting closer, but no cigar. I still didn't get it.

"It's like a glow that just -- " Toaster started, but I interrupted.

"A glow?!" I repeated; _now_ he was speaking my language!

"Yeah!" Apparently, Toaster was happy to see that I was getting it.

An idea came to me in a flash. "I think I know what you're talking about! It's kinda like the feeling I get...when I think about the Master."

"Yeah! Now you're getting it!"

I found myself thinking about the past; I could see it clearly, as though it was yesterday. Master was sitting on his bed, doing some homework by the light of my bulb. "I remember the first time my bulb blew out!"

I could still feel the _bzzt!_ of pressure (not quite pain, but not very comfortable) as my bulb stopped working, and my surprise as I stopped shining. As the Master turned to look at me, I froze; turning into the mindless machine that all humans must see us as, otherwise our gift of life might be taken away. I could then feel the Master reach into my snout and unscrew my bulb...and I still remember exactly how I panicked.

"And I thought, _That's it! It's over! I'm burned out! Eighty-sixed! TO THE SHOWERS!!!_"

I was really dramatic when I was younger. But that rant wasn't completely my fault! Radio had just told us how humans on the other side of the world would treat other humans just because they were considered 'failures' (more proof, by the way, that some humans have darkness inside them.).

"But then the Master put in a new bulb."

With gentle hands, I remembered the kindness of the Master as he fixed me, gave me a pat on the head, and returned to his homework.

"And I just..._glowed,_" I sighed, finishing my flashback. I realized I had automatically turned on my light, and was shining it in Toaster's face, so I turned it back off.

Toaster smiled at me; he really is a sweet appliance, if a little too positive and girly-voiced. "Well, that's all there is to it."

I laid back down. "That's very interesting," I remarked. Then, I wished him good-night. "Well, good-night, Slothead."

_And, before I knew it, I was dreaming. I was dreaming of the Master, and of the first time my bulb blew out. Just as I remembered, there was a BZZT!, and the Master took out my bulb. But, this time, I wasn't worried. I knew he would come back, with a brand-spanking-new lightbulb for me!_

_I waited...and waited...but he didn't come back._

_"Uh..." I called; because I was in the dreamworld, the First Unspken Rule didn't apply here, "Master?"_

_I hopped down from the nightstand and out of the room. "Master?" I called again, "This isn't funny!"_

_The hallway was dark, and it seemed to go on forever. But I was busy looking for my Master. "Master!" I called once more, "Master, where are you?"_

_Then, like a quiet whisper, I heard the Master call me. "Lampy! Come here, I need you!"_

_I turned a corner, and there was Master. He had a strange look on his face: he was smiling, but there was no emotion in him. "Hello, Lampy. Where's your light?" he asked._

_I felt around in my snout, but there was still no lightbulb. "I don't have one," I admitted._

_The Master shrugged. "I knew that," he said, his voice low and dull, "I knew you didn't have a light." He turned away from me, his shoulders shaking, like he was trying to keep from crying._

_I didn't want Master to cry; I couldn't help it if I had no light. "Master, I -- " But I couldn't finish what I wanted to say._

_The Master had turned back around, and he was now pitch black, like a cold shadow. And he held a hammer in his left hand, a tentpeg in his right._

_"What use," he hissed; now even his voice sounded dark, "is a lamp that shines darkness?"_

_"What?!" I gasped, but I realized he was right. A lamp is suppsed to shine light, but I had been short-fused and nasty to some of my friends, especially Blanky. So much for shining light._

_The Master had grown a third hand (there's that darn dream logic again!), and was holding me to the floor. He held the tentpeg at the side of my head, and he brought the hammer up..._

_But the Master was no longer the Master. He had turned into a lamp, painted black. He had turned into __**me.**_

_"You really think you still have light in you?" the dark me jeered, and brought the hammer down._

_For a split second, I felt a sharp pain, and sparks flew through my brain, lighting up my vision._

And then I was awake.

Now the night had turned stormy, like I mentioned earlier. If the forest had been creepy earlier, it was downright scary in the rain.

But it was about to get scarier. A gust of wind ripped through our campsite, and I thought, _Wow! That's strong! Someone could get blown away in this!_

Then I realized that Blanky was getting blown away. Toaster was holding on to him, trying to keep from losing him, but it didn't work. Blanky blew from his grasp and sailed into the trees, vanishing from sight. As he blew away, I heard him screaming Toaster's name...that is, until his voice suddenly stopped.

The rest of us started calling for Blanky, trying to get a reply. I shined my light up into the trees and through the pouring, but we couldn't see him.

Suddenly, I felt a _bzzt!_. My bulb had gone out, but I was older and wiser than the first time. Now I could tell whether a bulb went out because I was out of extra power or if the bulb itself had died; this was a case of the former. Keeping my cool, I tried plugging myself into the battery to recharge my light, but got nothing. I tried plug after plug, but nothing worked.

It was Kirby who confirmed our worst fears. After seeing the trouble I was having getting the battery to work, he bellowed, "The battery's gone dead!"

Radio, being the guy that he is, just had to follow that up with a one-liner. "We're trapped here like rats!" he yelped, "Small rats with no hair and one leg!"

I hated to agree with him, but he was right. There was nothing else we could do now except keep looking for Blanky.

There was a crash of lightning from the sky above. My brain thought, _That's it._ There was something else we could do, and that was get more power. Not only would we have enough power to get out of here, but we'd be able to cover more ground in our search for Blanky!

I had learned from the Master that lightning was made out of electricity, and I knew that appliances ran on electricity...but how could we get the lightning to power us?

The battery.

Oh, no. I couldn't! That'd be suicide! Was I really and truly willing to die for my friends?

_No, you're not!_ a part of me argued, _Go with them! You can find that stupid blanket without the battery!_

But I knew that wasn't the right way to think. The Master's father had once said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

If that could apply to humans...why not a lamp?

I leaped onto the chair that we had been using to cart us from place to place, stretched as close to the sky as I could, and plugged myself into the battery. I gave my friends one last glance, hoping that they'd be able to find Blanky. Then I turned my sights back towards the sky.

The dark thunderclouds gathered above me, and I shivered. I watched as the clouds parted, and a beam of lightning shot down and hit me. Believe me; it _hurt._ But I could feel it travelling into the battery, which was a good thing.

_Owww, make it stop!_ I thought, but I was about to feel an even greater pain.

My lightbulb exploded.

I had never felt my bulb explode before, and it was nothing like a burnout. It was to me like a human to an anyuerism. I wanted to die right then and there, but I could still feel the battery powering up. I had to keep going!

The electricity kept flowing, pulsating through me. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before, and I never want to feel it again if I can help it.

"Lampy!" I heard Toaster shout, trying to stop what was happening to me...but it was too late. I had done it; I had recharged the battery, so they could find Blanky!

A random little thought entered my head: _This lamp can still shine light in the darkness!_

I fell backwards, pain and electricity still coursing through me, and I thought for sure I was dead.

But some higher power gave me a second chance at life. I woke up the next morning with a broken bulb and an injured body, but I was still alive. We found Blanky (he was stuck in a tree, far from our campsite), found a replacement bulb for me, and went through several more adventures.

You know what? A lot of humans wonder what they can do to make a difference in this crooked world. Well, take it from this lamp, there's really only one thing you _can_ do:

Shine a light in the dark.

* * *

_So…how was it?_


End file.
